The present invention relates to wire harness and more particularly to a wire harness having splice locators formed integrally with the sheath.
Current vehicles include numerous wire harnesses interconnecting an increasing number of electrical components to user-activated and computer-controlled switches and sensors. Each wire harness comprises a plurality of wires which are bundled to form a main trunk and a plurality of branches extending from the trunk. Typically, each of the branches includes an electrical connector at an outer end.
During assembly of wire harnesses, the wire bundles are held together in an assembly jig, which includes a plurality of wire supports supporting the wires along each of the main trunk and each of the branches. Each wire is placed into the assembly jig onto the appropriate wire supports, i.e. from a first branch at one end of the wire harness, through the main trunk and through a second branch, typically at an opposite end of the wire harness. Electrical connectors are then connected to the outer ends of the wires at the branches. The wires are then wrapped with tape along the entire length of the main trunk and each of the branches. Plastic tubes or sleeves are often secured around the bundled wires in selected locations to protect against mechanical wear caused by vibration. Foam sheets are often wrapped and taped about the bundles in selected areas to provide damping and reduce noise. Fasteners, such as Christmas tree connectors, are secured to the bundled wires, with the wrapped tape. Rubber gaskets or grommets are secured to selected portions of the bundled wires in order to provide water seals at selected locations. Branch identifiers, such as tape labels are often wrapped about the branches near the connectors in order to identify the branch so it is properly mounted and connected.
United Technologies Automotive has developed a new wire harness in which the wires are encased in a molded foam sheath. This is described in more detail in co-pending application U.S. Ser. No. 08/898,663, filed on Jul. 22, 1997 entitled "FOAMED-IN WIRE HARNESSES." improvements are more fully disclosed in other co-pending applications: "WIRE HARNESS WITH INTEGRAL CONNECTOR" filed on Aug. 29, 1997 and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/920,768; "APPARATUS FOR CENTERING WIRE HARNESS IN MOLD" filed Aug. 29, 1997 on and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/920,458; "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SECURING WIRE HARNESS TO SURFACE" filed on Aug. 29, 1997 and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/920,978; "MULTISHOT MOLDS FOR MANUFACTURING WIRE HARNESS" filed on Aug. 29, 1977 and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/920,857; "MOLD FOR ASSEMBLING AND FORMING WIRE HARNESS" filed on Aug. 29, 1977 and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/919.946; "FOAM WIRE HARNESS WITH SHAPE MEMORY" filed on Aug. 29, 1977 and assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/920,570.
Current wire harnesses often include splices at several locations in the wire harness where an electrical connection is provided between two or more wires. A portion of the insulation of each wire is removed to provide electrical contact among the wires to be spliced. A dual wall heat shrink tube covers and seals the wire splice within the wire harness. The aforementioned tape is then wrapped over the splice and the rest of the wire harness as described above. Tape or labels may be used to mark the location of the splice in order to facilitate repair. The labels may be damaged or removed during installation or operation.
Should a wire fail after installation of the wire harness, a repair wire may be spliced into one of the wires in the wire harness at points on either side of the failure point. Tape is then used to secure the repair wire to the outer surface of the wire harness. Taping the repair wire to the wire harness is often difficult, time consuming and unreliable.